It must reflect what the people want, says Suswam

Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam yesterday warned that the constitutional review process must reflect the wishes and aspirations of the people and not the “whims and caprices of the drivers of the process.”

Suswam spoke at the opening of the Northcentral zonal public hearing on the proposed alteration of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution in Makurdi, the state capital.

The governor said the state was opposed to a Sovereign National Conference in whatever guise.

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu denied that the National Assembly has jettisoned the issue of state creation.

Suswam said: “I want to say that Benue State is opposed to the convocation of any conference in whatever name.

“We willingly elected our lawmakers and gave them our own mandate. There is no basis after we elected them to say they are not qualified to speak and act on our behalf.

“ If we had wanted a conference, whether sovereign or national, we would have done that before the election of our representatives.

“I believe that we are here in numbers because we want to pass a vote of confidence in the National Assembly and to clearly show and indicate that these are our representatives.

“We enjoin them to ensure that the amendment is not based on their whims and caprices but what we say here.”

Ekwereremadu, who was represented by the Chairman of the Northcentral Zone of the Committee on Constitution Review, George Akume, lauded the people for their faith in the constitution review project.

He said: “It is not true that the National Assembly has ruled out state creation. It is also not true that it is pursuing any special agenda on the matter as we have no such powers.”

Ekwereremadu noted that state creation is constitutionally a process that should originate from the people, local government councils, members of the State Assembly and members of the National Assembly from the areas seeking new states.

He added: “The role of National Assembly is to provide leadership, moderate the process, and ensure compliance with the legislative due process.”